Rail-lock for railway-drawbridges.



No. 862,858. PATENTED AUG. 6, 1907. W. L. M". P. SMITH.

RAIL LOOK FOR RAILWAY DRAWBRIDGES.

APPLICATION FILED APRJ25, 1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

W/T 53858: I INVENTOH-Fl My. M r 6 ATTORNEY.

No. 862,358. PATENTED AUG. s, 1907.

W, L. a; F. P. SMITH.

RAIL LOOK FOR RAILWAY DRAWBRIDGES. APPLICATION FILED APR.25,1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Z '11 rronwsr.

WILFORD L. SMITH AND FRANKLIN P. SMITH, WILMINGTON, DELAWARE.

RAIL-LOCK FOR RAILWAY-DRAWBRIDGES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 6, 1907.

Application filed April 25, 1907. Serial No. 370,132.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILFORD L. SMITH and FRANK- LIN P. SMITH, both citizens of the United States of America, residing in Wilmington, in the county of Newcastle and State of Delaware, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Rail-Locks for Railway-Drawbridges, of which the following is a true and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part thereof.

Our present invention relates to means for locking the movable rails of a drawbridge in alinement with the adjacent stationary rails.

In a drawbridge, as usually constructed, the outer ends of the rails on the draw or movable section of the bridge are made movable relative to such bridge portion in order that the outer ends of the rails may be raised to clear the rails and the guides orchairs on the stationary part of the bridge or adjacent abutment when the draw is opened while the inner ends of the rails are secured to the bridge structure.

The object of our present invention is the provision of locking means so constructed and disposed as to be entirely certain and secure in their operation. Such certainty and security is, of course, desirable in the highest degree, because of the great loss of life and property liable to occur upon a failure of the rail locking means when trains pass over the bridge.

In carrying out our invention we attach locking devices to the track rails at the extreme ends of the draw section of the bridge so that the locking devices have practically the same movement as the extreme ends of the rails and not merely a fraction thereof as is the case where the attaching devices are secured to the rails at some distance from the ends of the rails. We also so shape and arrange the locking parts that they are not apt to get out of order and dispose them on the bridge structure so that they do not interfere with the necessary clearance and are not exposed to injurious contact with other parts.

The various features of novelty which characterize our invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification. For a better understanding of our invention however and the advantages possessed by it, reference may be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which we have illustrated an embodiment of our invention.

Of the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of the bridge equipped with our invention. Fig. 2 is an elevation of a portion of one end of the movable bridge section showing the rails in the locked position. Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing the rails in the unlocked and elevated position. Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing a portion of one rail, the adjacent locking tongue and the portion of the cooperating parts, the locking tongue being in the locked position. Fig.

5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 with the rail in the unlocked and elevated position. Fig. 6 is a partial section on the line 66 of Fig. 2, and Fig. 7 is an enlarged section on the line 7-7 of Fig. 3.

In the drawings, A, represents the movable section or draw proper of a swinging drawbridge and B represents the adjacent stationarybridge portion or abutment as the case may be. In the form shown in the drawings, the bridge is double tracked and is provided with the usual end beams A and ties A some of which may be common to both sets of rails and some only to one set of rails; the ties and end beams are secured on the usual stringers A The track rails A are secured against the ties at points remote from-the end beam A, but adjacent the end beam the rails are free to move up from the bridge structure as is usual to permit the scarfed ends A to be raised above the corresponding searfed ends of the rails B supported on the end beam B and the ties G of the stationary bridge section or abutment B. The rails A are lifted from the ties A by means of a suitably actuated lift beam A and are held against lateral displacement by means of the side flanges or chairs or shoes A secured to the ties. Both of the bridge sections are provided with the usual alining guard rails A and B and the adjacent ends of the rails A and B are received in channeled chairs B carried by the bridge section B.

A locking tongue 0 is secured to each of the rails A at the outer surfaces of the end beam A. As shown, the locking tongue 0 is provided with bent hook like projections O at its upper end which embrace the two lower flanges or base of the rail. In practice, the parts are so shaped that the locking tongue has a certain slight capacity for motion relative to the rail so that the'parts may be easily assembled by sliding the tongue endwise on to the rail. In order that the tongues may turn relative to the rails through the slight angle necessary to preserve the vertical alinement of the body portions of the tongues as the rails are removed toward and away from the ties the under edges of the hooks C are preferably rounded as shown at 0 Each locking tongue is provided on its back side with a groove 0 for the locking bar and on its front side with a shoulder O, which, in the form shown, is made by reducing the thickness of the body portion of the tongue at a point slightly below the locking bar groove C The portion of the locking tongue below the shoulder C slides in a pocket carried by a bar D extending parallel to the end beam and having a yoke member D riveted to the bar D of the bars D are secured into L shaped brackets D and D, each having a portion extending parallel to the locking tongue and another portion resting on the top of the end beam and extending parallel to the track rails. Each bracket consists of an L shaped part D next the beam, and another and generally similar part D secured on the top of the part D by means of suit- The ends able rivets. As shown, the part D is offset at D so that the lower portion of this part is spaced away from the corresponding portion of the part D Below the offset portion D, a roll D is journaled between the parts D and D the roll forming the bottom of a pocket or passage D for the locking bar E. Between the lower ends of the parts D and D of each bracket is secured one end of the corresponding bar D A spacing block D is insertedin the bracket D where the space between the lower portions of the parts D and D is greater than in the bracket D.

The locking bar E for locking the tongues O in their lower position is are shaped to correspond to the curvature of the outer surface of the end beam A and passes through the pockets in the brackets D and D resting on the rolls D The locking bar adjacent each locking tongue, a lug orprojection E preferably integral with the bar. The tongues are locked in position and released by moving the bar E in the direction of its length to move the projections E into and out of the pockets or grooves C formed in the tongues. As shown by the drawings, the body portion of the locking bar is to the rear of the back face of the locking tongue and is so proportioned that it can move readily in the pockets D of the brackets D but without lost motion. Similarly the bar and projections E have a sliding fit in the pockets D of the brackets D and the projections E fill the pockets 0 of the locking tongues in the locking position. By this arrangement the locking bar is properly supported and guided by the brackets while at the same time suilicient clearance is provided for easy operation of the locking bar. 7

The operation of the locking device will be readily understood from the foregoing.

The construction of the parts is such that the locking tongues may readily be arranged at the most favorable position, namely, at the extreme end of the movable portion of the bridge. As the locking bar is acurately guided and the cooperating locking shoulders on the locking tongue and locking bar are each rigid with the locking tongue and locking bar, it is impossible to move the locking bar into the locking position except when the rails are down in their proper position. In practice,

- we have found that the locking bar cannot be moved to the locking position when the end. of any rail is but slightly, say an eighth of an inch, above its proper position. This is an important feature, since while a displacement of a rail no greater than an eighth of an inch or thereabout would not directly tend to cause the derailment of a train under ordinary conditions, it is apt to result in a broken rail, always a serious annoyance and liable to produce very disastrous effects. Preferably the edges of the projections E and pockets 0 are rounded but little. if at all so that the projections will either readily enter the pockets C or be definitely held out thus avoiding liability of forcing and thereby injuring the parts.

The construction and arrangement of the parts is such that the locking tongues can be located at the extreme end of the draw without interfering with the necessary clearance between the movable and stationary portions of the bridge and the brackets, locking tongue etc., may be recessed in the end beam, as shown best in Fig. 6. 1n the form shown it will be observed that the brackets are partly sunk into the end beam and that the locking bar is located in a rabbet formed in the end beam thus protecting the locking bar from accidental contact with parts liable to injure it.

It will be understood that in practice the operating rod E for operating the locking bar through the bell crank l'ever E and link E is interlocked with the engine, not shown, mounted on the movable portion of the drawbridge for moving the draw and for operating the lifting beam A and locking the movable bridge structure in place and with the track controlling signals so that the signals cannot be set in the clear position except when all the rails are down and locked in place by the locking bar, and the locking bar can not be removed from the unlocking position to the locking position except when the drawbridge is turned and locked to bring the rails A in alinement with the rails 13.

Should the locking tongue break loose from its rail, wholly or partially, as by the failure of one only of the hooks O, the locking tongue will have the upper end of the groove G brought below the corresponding projec tion E when the rails are down thereby preventing the actuation of the locking bar. The shoulder C is so located relative to the upper edges of the bar D and yoke D that the tongue, when completely broken loose from the rail will have its upper portion in line with the projection E and will therefore prevent the locking bar from being moved to the locking position.

In the form shown, the locking bar E and projections E are in one integral structure but it will be understood that the bar may readily be formed of sections rigidly connected together when necessary as where the signaling system employed requires that the track rails should be insulated from each other.

Having now described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,

1. In combination with the swinging section of a railway drawbridge structure and track rails carried by said movable section with their ends projecting by the ends of said bridge section proper and movable away from the level of the section to clear the adjacent stationary rails, of locking means for securing the rail in place when the draw is closed, said means comprising a locking tongue secured to and depending from each rail at the end of the draw, guides for each locking tongue located on the end beam of the bridge and a locking bar extending along the front side of the beam and provided with shoulders rigid 011 the bar and cooperating with shoulders rigid on the locking tongue.

2. In combination with the swinging section of a railway drawbridge structure having; end beams with outer curved surfaces and track rails carried by said movable section with their ends projecting by the ends of said bridge section proper and movable away from the level of the section to clear the adjacent stationary rails, of locking means for securing the rails in place when the draw is closed, said means comprising a locking, tongue secured to and depending from each rail at the end of the draw, guides for each locking tongue located on the end beam of the bridge and a curved locking bar extending along the front side of the beam and provided with shoulders rigid on the bar and cooperating with shoulders rigid on the locking tongue.

In combination in a railway bridge structure having :1 swinging section provided with an end beam having its outer surface curved and formed with a rabbet, of a locking tongue secured to each track rail and a curved locking bar coilperating with all the locking tongues and located in the rnbbet formed in the curved face of the end beam.

4. In combination with the swinging section of a rail way drawbridge having the outer ends of its track rails movable, a locking tongue secured to and extending downward beneath each track rail, cooperating with the locking tongues at one end of the bridge section, a locking bar, and guides for each locking tongue, comprising two brackets, one at each side of the locking tongue, each bracket having a portion extending down the front face of the end beam of the bridge and another portion resting on the beam, and also having" a pocket for the locking bar and a crosspiece connecting the lower ends of the brackets and provided with a pocket for the locking tongue.

5. In combination with the swinging section of a railway drawbridge having the outer ends of its track railsmovable, of a locking tongue for engaging each track rail, each tongue having the rail engaging hooks C with rounded edges 0, the locking bar pocket C and the shoulder C the locking bar E having the projections E adapted to enter the pockets C the brackets D and D secured to the end beam and provided with passages receiving the locking bar and the crossbar D", connecting the brackets D and D and yoke D the crossbar and yoke having the pocket for receiving the portion of the locking tongue below the shoulder C WILFORD L. SMITH. FRANKLIN P. SMITH.

Witnesses:

ARNOLD KATZ, JOHN E. HUnBuLL. 

